Daniel played many roles in his life including a great prophet of God. We continue to be blessed, inspired and perhaps warned by the writings of Daniel. Not only did he share God’s insights with the kings and people of his time, but today we also see God’s plan unfold in Daniel’s writings. We see the future for those who faithfully follow God. It states, “many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever”.
We read about deliverance for everyone whose name is found written in the book. King David had written of this book of life in Psalm 69:28 and many years later we see the book mentioned again in Revelation 3:5. It states, “He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”
These amazing truths were passed down from one group to the next, sometimes one generation to the next. Daniel faithfully served the LORD at the time and in the place that the LORD set for him. We have that same privilege today. Don’t feel that you are unable or are unqualified to share. You have the message from the LORD through the scriptures and when you walk closely with Our LORD, that is all you need. Share the Good News with those around us. We want to share in the assurance that Daniel had. It states, “then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.”
-Rebecca Dauksas
Reflection Questions
When you think of the future do you usually think about tomorrow, 5 years down the road, 25 or 50 years from now, or eternity? What part of the future excites you? What part scares you?
How often do you consider the book of life? What are your thoughts and feelings when you do? How many familiar names do you expect will be found there?
How can you lead many to righteousness by sharing the good news? What has God given you to do so?
The eternal feasting from Thanksgiving to Christmas has begun to catch up with me (it’s not just you, promise). This pre-New Year’s week (and it’s bloating) is often cited by many as their week of revelation and insight into the preparations of what they might change in the upcoming year. While any time – month, day, or hour – is welcome to change, this week I will be focusing on some resolutions presented to us in the continued reading in the prophecy of Zecheriah, the Revelation of John, and the beginnings of Matthew. While many of the passages are filled with prophetic, symbolic, end-time images, I will try to remain focused on the big picture: the message or warning presented in the passages. Our eyes should be open, our ears listening, and our spirit attune to the world around us, not only because we become reflective as our year draws to an end, but because the drum roll quickens towards the end of this present evil age. We should hasten our efforts, not to simply shed a few holiday pounds, start a new hobby, or get organized, but to make changes and to carry on efforts that will make lasting impacts in the Kingdom of God.
Speaking of eternal things, did you know, Kool-Aid, when stored properly, really doesn’t expire? It is a seemingly innocent drink, yet there is a crushing idiom out there beckoning people not to partake in the consumption of this perpetual potion: You might hear an older generation say, “Don’t drink the Kool-Aid ”. This expression actually means don’t believe everything you hear, especially because it presents a very real threat. It might seem that the origins of this phrase refer to the high sugar content, the unnatural color, or the artificial flavor of the name brand fruit drink of childhood and beyond. It is true, there isn’t much wholesome about this drink (sorry, grape. I still love you tho); however, this isn’t where our figurative turn of phrase is born. Instead, the origin is far more tragic than the attack on our blood-sugar. The notorious event is referred to as the 1978 Jonestown Massacre, where hundreds of innocent men, women, and children died by drinking, or being forcibly injected, with a combination of Flavor-Aid and poison. This presents a more tragic history behind the coinage, but draws a parallel to today’s reading in both Zechariah and Revelation. The words below remind me that there is a great coming (or even present) evil, or a more perilous and poisoned Kool-aid that is brewing and being passed as legitimate name-brand Gospel.
“I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.” – Revelation 17:6
The prostitute on the beast paints an ironically sobering picture, becoming intoxicated on the blood of saints and lying with the kings of the earth. Those who take part in this great debauchery against God, may do so willingly, but it seems many do so unwittingly, astonished and deceived by the spectacles of ungodly power (v.8) . There will be those who are not in the Lamb’s Book of Life who attend churches, have ministries, and even blog about Christ, but give-in to tinted truths, sweet lies, and god-like power, because it is a more “palatable” gospel, requiring less real change and more gratification. The love, justice, mercy that take root in another source other than our Heavenly Father, may look pretty, taste sweet, and have some of the same notes, but it is filled with poison. It will never quench your thirst. It is just empty calories leading you closer to death. Stop the endless following, swiping, and double-tapping – look up. Turn off the continuous bombardment of the news cycle – look up. Quit chasing after causes that don’t lead to the saving Gospel message of Christ – look up. Don’t drink the Kool-Aid.
Now, this begs the question, what then should we drink? Coffee! Wrong. Tea? Still wrong. Soda? Getting colder. Simply, water. No beans, no leaves, no syrup, no colors, no nonsense straight-from-the-tap water. It is what your body is craving, essential to every major function in your body, beginning at the cellular level. Among many other things, water aids in digestion, stabilizes the heart, regulates blood pressure, flushes away the toxins, and provides protection to the day-to-day function of our organs and joints. Such is true for our Living Water, the Gospel message and the Spirit of God present in our daily walk.
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” – John 4:13-14
“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” – John 7:37-39
While there is a metaphor to be drawn for each of these literal benefits, there is an inherent advantage, understood or not, from consuming water. Yes, we are trying to flush away perpetuated falsehoods, but drinking living water in and of itself is simply refreshing. Make time for God’s Word. Worship Him in your car. Honor Him with your time. Live out the Gospel through actions and bear the testimony of Jesus Christ. Resolve to fill your tumbler and carry it wherever you go because there are so many ready to make the switch from the Kool-Aid to the quenching Living Water.
-Aaron Winner
Read or listen to today’s Bible reading plan passages at Bible Gateway here – Zechariah 5-6 and Revelation 17
It sounds like a movie or a great novel. I’m not Morpheus encouraging you to take the Red-Pill, or even a Wardrobe beckoning you to take your place upon the throne at Cair Paravel.
We are discussing something much more crucial: eternity.
In Revelation 20, we are witness to two resurrections and therefore, two judgements. While Jesus in Matthew 25 tells us there will only be one judgement, with some sheep and some goats, Revelation expresses the security of the saved by expressing their own resurrection as separate. Instead of being raised and judged all together, all those who fought against the beast and his mark will reign with Christ and live forever, being raised in an earlier better resurrection, free of fear of the second death. Revelation then shows us that there will be those that, no matter what, will stand against God, and will march against the Lamb. God will smite them and Christ will judge them from the great white throne. There are many books opened, but there is one crucial book, the Book of Life. Those whose name is written in the Book will live, those whose name is not written in the book will die. Those whose name is not written in the Book will be like the goats of Matthew 25, who go off to shame and everlasting contempt.
A question we may ask ourselves is “which is the most accurate description of the final judgements? Is it all people into sheep and goats (like Matthew 25) or two separate judgements separated by 1000 years (Revelation 20)?” And that is a good question.
A good one, but the WRONG one.
The question we MUST ask is, “Am I a sheep or a goat? Is my name written in the Book of Life? Will I be raised in the first resurrection?” This is the correct question, because it is also the one we can answer with assurance.
If you have believed in the name of Jesus,
if you have fed the hungry, given water to the thirsty, clothed the naked, visited the sick and imprisoned, (Matthew 25)
if you have refused the mark of the beast, the authority of this world, (Revelation 20)
if you fought against the anti-God system of the world by speaking the message of Christ in love,
THEN you have been promised by God Himself that you will be raised to eternal life.
May you, my brothers and sisters, be among the sheep, raised in the first resurrection, and may you never need to fear the second death.
It was the beginning of a Louisiana winter when I lost my wedding ring just a couple years into my marriage. It was a beautiful white gold ring with an inscription of our anniversary on the inside of the band. It was a perfect reminder of my covenant in every way; however, its faults were it was a little loose when my hands were cold, and of course, it had me for an owner. My friends and I were readying to play a football game on a Sunday afternoon and I was warming up by tossing the ball with a friend. In a bit of foreshadowing for the events of the day, my ring slipped off as I caught the ball. I picked it up off the ground, remarked how cold it was that afternoon, thought about placing my ring inside my pocket but thought it might fall out if it was there. I put the ring back on my finger, only to lose it at some point in the next couple of hours of our pick-up game.
As we finished playing, my heart immediately sank when I realized it was gone. I felt a cold sweat build on my forehead, my gut churned, and I held back tears, disappointed that I had lost something so precious. My friends helped me look for almost an hour without success. In the muddy, mushy, marshy Louisiana ground, I could see the imprints of our shoes and feet, I could see heaps of crawdad holes, but none of us saw the silvery reflection of my ring buried within the mire and muck.
In Luke Chapter 15, Jesus tells a series of three parables with a similar subject of a possession that has gone missing. In “The Parable of the Lost Sheep”, the master realizes that one of his flock is missing, and leaves behind 99 others to search for the lost one. In the “Parable of the Lost Coin”, a woman takes account (to tie to our theme from yesterday) to realize she has misplaced a day’s earnings and does the equivalent of turning up couch cushion, investigating under the bed, and sweeping every nook and cranny to uncover it. In “The Parable of the Lost Son” a father turns his son loose with an inheritance, but is actively looking for his return. In addition to the same topic, each story ends in a similar resolution: what has been lost has become found and there is great rejoicing.
For me, there are two great takeaways as I ponder the collective meaning of these parables. The first: to be lost, you have already belonged. It is true that we each must find the Master in order to be saved, but He is the one who never stops searching. Our Lord desires that not even a single sheep goes astray and is left without the safety of the shepherd (2 Peter 3:9). Additionally, my thoughts turn to the Book of Life. In Revelation 3, we are presented an image that our names are not written into the Book at the transition from “lost” to “saved”, but have already received a place there and are blotted out at the end of a life that is not found in Christ. We are always His, but like the lost son, we make the decision to be found.
The second takeaway is the wonderful rejoicing that occurs when we turn our lives over and are indeed found. There is a literal fiesta in the firmament to celebrate our Savior’s joy that we are alive again. No longer do we share the fleeting moments of a mortal life with our Father, but have the hope of an eternity of His presence, living with Him in His kingdom, our intended inheritance instead of passing pleasures. We, too, should echo the heavens and revel in each return.
Unfortunately, the resolution to my own parable of the ring isn’t as joyous as our Jesus’. I searched for the ring for weeks, beseeched friends I know with metal detectors, offered rewards, but none of these measures ensured the retrieval of my wedding band. I resigned my search, and my ring is forever lost in the loose Louisiana earth. Maybe, as I like to imagine, it is the crowning jewel at the bottom at some crawdad family’s hole. With this being said, I can’t help but be thankful that my God has called me his treasure and that he never stops searching for me. He finds me in my wandering, revealing and moving His will and His way through His words, waiting for my silhouette to again darken the horizon when I have gone astray – a Father who never fails finding those who desire to be found in Him.
); however, this isn’t where our figurative turn of phrase is born. Instead, the origin is far more tragic than the attack on our blood-sugar. The notorious event is referred to as the 1978 Jonestown Massacre, where hundreds of innocent men, women, and children died by drinking, or being forcibly injected, with a combination of Flavor-Aid and poison. This presents a more tragic history behind the coinage, but draws a parallel to today’s reading in both Zechariah and Revelation. The words below remind me that there is a great coming (or even present) evil, or a more perilous and poisoned Kool-aid that is brewing and being passed as legitimate name-brand Gospel.
SeekGrowLove.com 